Valve's Source Engine 2 Looks To Be Coming To Dota 2 As A DLC

"Low Violence" Could just be an adapted version so Dota won't be banned in places such as Australia. Both Left4Dead games have special "less gore" modes which dumbed down the effects and change models to not be "shocking" for kids.

If this is the case it is even more exciting since it would mean Source 2 has such an increase in graphics that it would look too real.
Very exciting stuff.

So if it's DLC then people could end up playing the game against each other using different engines? That's pretty cool if that's how it works.

Maybe they're getting things ready for E3?

I would imagine due to the timing it could be to show off at E3, and having it as DLC means they could opt-in their test machines to it. Makes it easy for them to do it.

Vulcan? Im excited for source 2 and the performance gains + graphics improvements to new and older source games but Im really hoping Vulcan comes along with source 2 not long afterwards. Another 40% - 50% performance with lower latencies and more effects at once, removing any and all openGL deficits with x.server.

Any idea when the first beta Vulcan driver will be available ? I assume Valve will be the first dev to actually support games with it. Already nvidias new card 980ti / driver is supporting so called 'extra effects' in dx12.1 , Vulcan is critical to getting more PC gamers interested in SteamOS & Linux.

Vulcan? Im excited for source 2 and the performance gains + graphics improvements to new and older source games but Im really hoping Vulcan comes along with source 2 not long afterwards. Another 40% - 50% performance with lower latencies and more effects at once, removing any and all openGL deficits with x.server.

Any idea when the first beta Vulcan driver will be available ? I assume Valve will be the first dev to actually support games with it. Already nvidias new card 980ti / driver is supporting so called 'extra effects' in dx12.1 , Vulcan is critical to getting more PC gamers interested in SteamOS & Linux.

Think I read somewhere that the Vulkan spec is likely to be released at some conference in late August and I'm fairly certain the Intel Vulkan driver is going to be released the same time as the finished spec.

"I had better brush up on my Dota 2 skills to report on performance and such when it arrives! Save me."

Good luck to you, Liam. DOTA2 is way beyond my abilities. I can barely handle Strife, which is several orders of magnitude easier and less complex. I do love watching DOTA2, though.

I look forward to playing (read: losing) some Dota 2 games with a SLUG team ^^ I've joined the guild, but all the other people who are online scare me with their "3000 wins" and "4000 wins" :-p Another beginners event would be nice and I'm certainly willing to participate (after my exams!)

Low violence mode has just certain graphics tweaked to respect cultural differences in some Asian countries. It mainly changes the color of certain gore effects and covers up most skulls with bandit masks :D.
Here is a list with all altered graphics: http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Low_Violence

So if it's DLC then people could end up playing the game against each other using different engines? That's pretty cool if that's how it works.

According to an article from ValveTime.net a few days ago, it looks so: [http://www.valvetime.net/threads/dota-2-update-hints-at-separate-source-2-client.245936/](http://www.valvetime.net/threads/dota-2-update-hints-at-separate-source-2-client.245936/)

Low violence mode has just certain graphics tweaked to respect cultural differences in some Asian countries. It mainly changes the color of certain gore effects and covers up most skulls with bandit masks :D.
Here is a list with all altered graphics: http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Low_Violence

Well, if that helps other markets enjoy rage at Dota 2, sure why not.

So if it's DLC then people could end up playing the game against each other using different engines? That's pretty cool if that's how it works.

According to an article from ValveTime.net a few days ago, it looks so: http://www.valvetime.net/threads/dota-2-update-hints-at-separate-source-2-client.245936/

Ahhh, the plot thickens!

Over 1000 hours logged here... Yes the community is pretty... um... ragey.

I'm hoping the new engine reduces initial loading of the game which is pretty long considering it loads every shader on Linux right off. For those who use catalyst I would suggest using the open stack for this game it reduces action latency, how or why I don't know since I get less FPS with the mesa stack but be damned if it doesn't perform better. If and when radeon gets vulkan support I would love to test this out as dota2 was already shown running on the intel stack with vulkan as a tech demo.

I'm hoping the new engine reduces initial loading of the game which is pretty long considering it loads every shader on Linux right off.

You should try launching the game with +mat_autoload_glshaders 0. It's not going to rid you off some of the unnecessary environmental shaders but you're at least going to be skipping the hero model shaders compiled for heroes that might not even get loaded at all during gameplay.

Basically the way opengl dota2 works is there's a "favourite heroes" file that appends more heroes to it whenever you load a single game playing any of those heroes. Loading your first match is obviously going to take longer that way, though it's still going to end up loading faster than the startup time compilation (due to less hero shaders) and that might make it better for you after a dc. If your loading times are still too long (to the point that you even end up failing that first load sometimes) then consider loading a replay prior to your first load in order to not be the "wood" (obviously won't help if you dc).

In any case, I hope this time we get native opengl (without a compilation time translation ayer) and hopefully we'll be having opengl4.1 support (binary shaders!) which will, sadly, set mesa back for a while. The source2 upgrade should be optional long enough for mesa to get to that point?

It looks like it's now in beta: http://www.valvetime.net/threads/dota-2-reborn-beta-source-2-client-revealed.245988/